PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today overturned the conviction of former student activist Muhammad Safwan Anang for “uttering seditious remarks,” allegedly urging the public to topple the government three years ago.
A three-man bench, led by Datuk Mokhtaruddin Baki, Datuk Dr Prasad Sandosham Abraham and Datuk Zakaria Sam unanimously agreed that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against Safwan.
Prasad, when reading out the judgment, said that the panel also found no seditious tendency, based on the grounds of judgement by the Sessions Court, which had sentenced Safwan to a 10-month jail term and fine of RM5,000.
“We find that a prima facie case had not been made against the appellant in the Sessions Court, as the statement in question was not seditious and therefore, the conviction of the appellant in the Sessions Court, upheld by the High Court, should be set aside and the instant appeal be allowed.
“The appellant is acquitted and discharged and the cross-appeal by the prosecution is consequently dismissed,” he said.
Prasad said the court should have scrutinised and independently evaluated the statement to see whether the language used is within the bounds of sedition, rather than free speech.
“Failure to do so by the court, in our view, amounts to a serious misdirection in law which would render a conviction unsafe,” he said.
The 26-year-old former Universiti Malaya (UM) student was charged with making a seditious speech at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on May 13, 2013, allegedly inciting the people to topple the government through street protests.
On Sept 5, 2014, Safwan was sentenced to 10-month’s jail, in default of two years’ jail, and a RM5,000 fine by the Sessions Court after he was found guilty under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948.
The High Court, on Dec 16 last year, had reduced Safwan’s sentence from 10-months’ imprisonment to a RM5,000 fine following an appeal.